By Zachary Harmuth
BGA beat FRA hard and fast Friday night at home, ending the regular season and sending each other into the Class A Division II playoffs next week on respective high and low notes.
In the end FRA fell 42-7 to the Wildcats, who scored the game’s last point just 18 seconds into the third.
FRA wide receiver Tucker Beathard and quarterback Cole Grosvenor, who went 10 of 17 for 217 yards and 3 TDs, simply dominated the Cougars.
Beathard, whose strategically mispronounced name perfectly describes what he and his teammates did to FRA, caught 3 passes from Grosvenor and 1 from Cougar QB Spence Jones. He finished with 69 yards and 2 TDs receiving, and an INT on defense.
His first score, which broke a 7-7 tie, sparked a 35-0 run by BGA.
On fourth-and-nine from the FRA 19-yard line with 1:04 left in the first, not wanting to insult a 58-yard Rieves Berry kickoff return by going for anything but a TD, Coach Roc Batten kept in his offense.
The Wildcats (7-3, 3-0 in A Division II) were not about to let FRA (5-5, 2-1 in A Division II) think of them as kittens.
It paid off.
Beathard lined up wide left and started straight toward the corner as, an instant after the shotgun snap, Grosvenor floated a perfect back-shoulder pass that arrived in what looked like slow motion.
Beathard had a beat on his defender, who could only grab hold of the No. 5 jersey in front of him and hope for a penalty and a drop instead of a TD.
As they both fell forward and out of bounds Beathard, poised like a bowler’s release or a ballerina’s something-or-other, made a back-leg-in-the air catch that, as the subsequent split second of jaw-dropped silence by all in attendance attested, was literally unbelievable.
14-7, going on 42-7, BGA.
FRA gained 5 yards on its next two possessions which both ended with punts; BGAs next two? 130 yards and 2 TDs.
Wide receiver Trevor Auerbach rumbled 50 yards for a receiving TD to make it 21-7 with 7:54 left in the second.
Ronald Cleveland (15 carries for 96 yards rushing and 2 TDs) followed this up with an ankle-breaking 23-yard run for TD No. 2.
With things almost out of hand, down by 21 6:23 before half, FRA made a big play just when it needed to. Coach Bill Whittemore dialed up a flea-flicker that Spence Jones (4 of 8 for 96 yards passing and 2 INTs) threw downfield to a completely-alone Sam Harvin (88 total yards, 1 TD rushing) for a 61-yard gain to the BGA 5-yard line.
After a 15-yard personal foul, a 2 yard run and an incomplete pass, FRA faced third-and-eight on the 18 with 3:43 left. Jones took the shotgun snap and threw to his right into the end zone to an open Harvin-
-but then Beathard, from somewhere off-the-tv-screen, jumped the route to intercept Jones and in the confusion return it 20 yards.
Three minutes later the drive ended, as it began, with a Beathard catch in the end zone. 35-7, BGA at the half.
BGA returned the second half kickoff 12 yards to their 48. Berry caught a 38-yard pass; then Zach Hardiman on the next play ran for 14 yards and a TD.
42-7, BGA, 18 seconds into the second half.
That was that for the first string, as the mercy rule started and the clock stopped for nothing over the next two quarters.
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
FRA Panthers…….. 7 0 7 0 – 7 Record: (5-4,2-0)
BGA Wildcats…….. 14 21 7 0 – 42 Record: (6-3,2-0)
Scoring Summary:
1st-
05:57 BGA- Ronald Cleveland 18 yd run (Jarret Bristol kick), 7 plays -62 yards, time of possession- 1:20 (0-7)
02:55 FRA- Sam Harvin 9 yd run (Jay Norris kick), 9 plays -83 yards, TOP- 2:53, (7-7)
01:04 BGA- Tucker Beathard 19 yd pass from Cole Grosvenor (Bristol kick), 4 plays -20 yards, TOP- 1:38, (7-14)
2nd
07:54 BGA- Trevor Auerbach 50 yd pass from Grosvenor (Bristolkick), 10 plays -83 yards, TOP- 2:24, (7-21)
05:55 BGA- Cleveland 23 yd run (Bristol kick), 2 play -47 yards, TOP- 0:19, (7-28)
00:28 BGA- Beathard 23 yd pass from Grosvenor (Bristol kick), 9 plays -80 yards, TOP- 3:15, (7-35)
3rd
11:42 BGA2013 – Zack Hardiman 14 yd run (Bristol kick), 2 plays -52 yards, TOP- 0:18, (7-42)
| Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| FRA (5-5, 2-1) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| BGA (7-3, 3-1) | 14 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 42 |
